Heaven Beside You
by diablosflame
Summary: Oerba Yun Fang is married to Claire Farron, a professor at the University of Bodhum, and masquerades at night as the superhero Bahamut to put an end to organized crime and human trafficking that are running rampant through the city. When she is targeted by a crazed mob boss Bahamut will go to any lengths to stop him and could destroy her own life in the process.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is a rewrite of You Could Be My Hero, updated and reposted thanks to EliteofFalcon who PMd me out of the blue and requested I finish this story. I took it as an opportunity to retool and add some things and change the name that I always secretly hated. Hope you like it and thanks for reading._

Fang was getting pissed. She was standing in a smelly, crowded coffee shop watching some young punk roll his condescending eyes at her as he screwed up her order for the third time. She forcibly kept herself cool, even though on the inside she was aching to destroy him, and said in her most calm voice. "No, I said I don't want caramel."

"You don't have to be rude, ma'am."

She seethed, his tone made her want to hit him in the face and the snotty look on his face made her not want to stop. If this little bastard knew how close he was to getting his head torn off he would run home to his mother and never leave again. She wanted to deck him, she wanted to break him in front of everyone there, she wanted to fly him to the stratosphere and scream "DO YOU KNOW WHO I FUCKING AM!" as he choked to death in the vacuum. What she did was stand there as he finally got it right. What she did was pay for it, waiting for her change, which was also wrong. What she did was leave and swear never to set foot in this circle of hell again.

She stomped out of the coffee shop, almost ripping the doors off in her haste to leave, set the coffee in the cup holder of her car, a classic white chevelle SS with a red racing stripe, and drove away. She pulled out of her parking spot and managed to make it several feet before having to stop, traffic was backed up as it usually was and she now rued having come to this god forsaken coffee shop for her wife. She hated driving in downtown Bodhum, but once she cleared the downtown area, after nearly an hour of stop and go driving, it was smooth sailing to her house in the suburbs. She could have flown the distance in less than half the time, but she didn't want to draw more attention to herself than was necessary.

Not that she needed help in that regard. She was tall, at six foot three she towered over most of the people in Bodhum, her waist length dark hair and striking green eyes that always seemed to look for just a second longer than necessary only added to her allure. Her body, tanned and toned through years of training, was definitely an eye magnet, a fact that never bothered her but annoyed her wife. A wife that she was desperate to see.

The long drive helped to calm her nerves, the open land that surrounded Bodhum was always able to bring her a measure of peace. She and her wife, Claire Farron, had moved out to the suburbs after Claire became the professor of History at the University of Bodhum. Claire had wanted the peace and quiet that the suburbs offered and Fang needed the anonimity. She drove around her circular driveway and parked her car next to a cream colored Chrysler 300. She grabbed the latte out of the cupholder and headed inside expecting to see her lover sitting on the couch watching television. She usually took Sundays as her day off to relax and Fang was more than happy to help her with that. When she got inside, however, she found all the lights out and her wife nowhere to be found. "Claire?" She called out into the darkened house but received no answer. "Claire?" She walked into the kitchen and found it empty. A knot tightened in her stomach. "Claire, are you home?"

She turned a corner heading for their bedroom and noticed a light coming from Claire's study. She crept up slowly and peeked in to the room. Her pink haired goddess sat in her heavy office chair with a pair of headphones around her head, a massive pile of papers stacked on the desk in front of her, most likely student papers that she was grading. She was known around campus as a strict, no nonsense teacher and around their bedroom as the only teacher Fang ever liked. And she liked her a lot. A smirk crossed Fang's features when she realized that Claire had no way of knowing she was there.

She left the latte at the door and snuck across the room, quite unnecessarily considering that Claire was completely absorbed in her work. When she stood just behind the chair she wrapped her right arm around it and her, picking her up off the ground as if she weighed nothing. Claire's headphones came off and she struggled in Fang's arm. "Put me down!"

"Then say it."

"Never." Claire continued to struggle against Fang's super strength, knowing that she stood no chace of breaking the woman's hold but not wanting to give in. After several minutes of struggling Claire had had enough and finally gave in. "Alright, fine. Uncle. Now put me down." Fang put her down, a huge smirk crossed her face, she knew that she had won and could hold it over Claire's head for a week. "I don't like this game, anymore." Claire Farron stood, smoothed out her clothes and gave Fang a welcome home kiss. Fang returned to the door, picked up the latte she had gone through so much to acquire and took it back to her wife. "Is that for me?" Fang handed it to her and she held it up to her mouth to take a sip, but stopped. "No caramel, right?"

"Claire, we've been married for eight years. I know you don't like caramel." She watched Claire take a sip before committing herself to drinking it. "The dunce behind the counter screwed it up three freaking times. I wanted to tear his pimply head off his shoulders."

"I don't know what you have against baristas but if you get us kicked out of another coffee shop I'm going to divorce you." Claire sat back down and took a long sip from her latte, savoring the aroma and the now luke warm texture. "How did it go last night?"

"Not even a peep." She had gone about the city by night, flying one of her usual routes, and the streets had been quiet. She didn't see so much as a mugging through the entire night, something that she found incredibly odd. There was always something.

"They must all be scared of you."

"Or else they're moving in the daytime now." Fang threw her arms around Claire's neck and leaned over her shoulder. She planted a soft kiss on Claire's neck and whispered in her ear with her smooth Pulsian accent. "I'm headed to bed. Care to join me?"

Claire flushed but there was an inordinately large stack of papers on her desk, papers that required her attention. Still, Claire wanted nothing more than to spend some quality time with her lover of the past decade. "I've got a lot of work to do here, but if you can convince me to ..."

Fang whined, she had been out all night and she wasn't fancying the work that she would have to put in to attract her caring, workaholic wife from her job. "Can't we skip that part, I'm tired."

"Then you're too tired to play with me."

Fang huffed and walked away. Instead of giving up, however, she pulled at her shirt until the top two buttons came undone, exposing a fair bit of cleavage, and unbuttoned her jeans. She leaned against the door jam in the most 'I want you to ravage me' pose she could strike. "Excuse me, Ms. Farron, I was wondering if I could get some **extra** credit." Claire spun around in her chair and started laughing. Fang pouted and she got up and walked over to her. "Now you're laughing at me."

"It's cute, that's all." She sauntered over and kissed Fang lightly on the cheek, leaving her hand on her waist for a bit longer than normal. "You get an A for effort, though."

"An A? I was kinda hoping for something else. Something a little sexier."

Claire patted her on the arm. "Alright, I guess I can take a break from work, but you had better make it worth my while."

Fang smirked as she wrapped her wife in an embrace that bent her backwards. "Don't I always?" She captured Claire's lips with hers, drawing the woman close enough to feel her skin beneath the t-shirt she was wearing. She lifted Claire's legs and carried her bridal style to the bedroom, their lips never parting except for air. Fang laid her partner on their bed, climbed atop her and started slowly taking off her shirt. Fang removed her own shirt and tossed it to the side, then attacked Claire's slender neck with her mouth and tongue.

Claire's breathing hastened, she arced her chest and pressed against Fang. Fang slipped a hand underneath her and undid her bra. She removed it and haphazardly tossed it to the side. She switched her attack to Claire's breasts, flicking and pinching them eliciting moans and sighs from her lover. "Fuck me, Fang."

Fang lifted her head from Claire's chest and looked deep into crystal blue eyes. "My pleasure."

She defly undid Claire's pants and slid them slowly down her body, tossing them off to the side of the bed then started kissing and licking up her silken thighs until she reached her panties. Taking them in her mouth she pulled them off with her teeth then rubbed at her exposed lips until Claire cried out. Fang slid slowly up her body, kissing every inch up to her mouth. At once she penetrated Claire's mouth with her tongue and her lips with two fingers.

Claire bucked and heaved against Fang as she slid those fingers into and out of her, adding one more and then the other. Fang let up on her mouth and moved to suckle her breast, Claire's cries and moans filled the room. Fang was knuckle deep in her wife, and Claire wanted more, still more. Fang returned to her legs and licked at her engorged clitoris, eliciting the reaction she wanted from her wife. She continued to push her fist into her wife while working her tongue and Claire's body responded, an orgasm hit her in waves and she rode them until she collapsed to the bed exhausted.

Fang and Claire intertwined around each other, Fang took her wife's mouth with her own and kissed her until she couldn't breathe. "Is it my turn, honey?" Claire treated Fang much the same way, removing her pants while running her hands up and down Fang's legs and up to her crotch. Claire gripped hard and Fang arced her back. Claire took her breast in her mouth and bit down almost hard enough to draw blood. Fang shuddered and Claire ripped her panties off with one hand. Claire dove in face first and used a combination of her tongue and teeth to work Fang until she shuddered in a violent orgasm that left her collapsed on the bed.

Afterwards they laid together in each others arms. Fang held Claire close to her and thought about the evening's events. She had been running a thought in her head all night and decided to confide in the one stable person she had in her life. "I think I want to quit, Claire."

"Oh?" Claire seemed taken aback, she certainly hadn't expected this talk after they had just finished having sex. Claire looked up from Fang's chest into her eyes so that she understood how serious she was being. "Fang, I would love nothing more than to go to sleep with you every night and wake up next to you in the morning. I would love not worrying if you're coming back, knowing that you'll be here when I get home but it wouldn't be enough for you. You need to be out there using your power and I don't want to be what keeps you from doing that."

Fang sighed, she had obviously been thinking about this a lot. "It's got nothing to do with you, baby. I'm just losing my faith, I guess. When I first started this I could look around me and see the good in people trying to get out. Now I just see animals huddling together for warmth, trying to destroy each other and I don't care enough to stop them anymore."

Claire rubbed Fang's back in a way she knew the woman liked. "You're tired, honey. Get some sleep and see if you feel better tonight."

Fang closed her eyes and before long she had drifted off to sleep. Claire lay beside her for a few minutes before reluctantly sliding out of bed, finding her clothes and returning to her study. Never once had she heard her wife talk about quitting her night job and it disturbed her somewhat. Her night persona was something she had come to love about Fang, she wouldn't love her less if she quit but she feared that Fang might start to loathe her for it. She returned to her work with this thought in the back of her mind.

-HERO-

Fang walks into the Broken Bat, a small bar on the outskirts of town, and sits in her usual booth in the darkest corner of the joint. The Broken Bat is known around the underworld as an information center, anything worth knowing can be found here. For the right price. Fang orders herself a whiskey sour and drinks it nearly down before a man sits across from her. He is a thick man, broad shouldered and muscular with tattoos running down both of his arms, hard to see against his dark skin. His voice is deep and cracked, as are the dark bags under his eyes. "I think I've got something for you."

Fang perks up at this. She is getting tired of quiet nights and is itching for a fight. "Good, I'm ready for some action."

"Things have been slow for you, I heard." The man pulls out a cellphone and hands it to Fang. On it are pictures of a warehouse and a black van. "This van is supposed to move human product around town. The drops are made weekly, tonight is a warehouse downtown. It's well hidden so you won't be bothered by the cops and these guys are scum so you shouldn't have a problem taking them down."

Fang browses through the pictures on the phone, pleased at what she is seeing. She has been trying to bring down one of the local crime syndicates, the Talon family, who have moved from drugs into trafficking slaves from Pulse. Being a Pulsian this strikes her hard and this attack would strike them back harder. She pulls a manilla envelope from her pocket and slides it across the table to the man who checks it's contents and smiles at her. "As always, a pleasure doing business."

He leaves and Fang finishes another drink before leaving the Bat and heading around the corner, where she has stashed her outfit. She changes quickly, donning the dragon shaped helmet that has become her trademark, then makes her way to the warehouse that the man was speaking of earlier, waiting on a rooftop for a sign of her quarry. She spots a black, windowless van driving slowly down a back alley and knows this is what she's been waiting for. The van stops and a thin man exits wearing a ski mask and black clothing. Suspicious.

He approaches a nearby door and a large man in a suit answers, they chat for a minute then heads to the van. Bahamut readies up. The freedom of being a vigilante is that she doesn't have any rules to follow, namely she doesn't have to announce her presence. She lets herself fall straight down and lands behind the van. She makes sure they hear her. They spin on her; they're unarmed. She hits the closest one with a haymaker. He slams into the van and crumples to the floor. The second she grabs by the throat and slams into the ground hard enough to render him unconscious. All in a matter of seconds.

She rips the door off the van and inside are three young women bound and gagged. She sets them free then turns her attention to the door. She hears a thick metal bolt lock the door and laughs aloud. They must not know who she is. She rips the door from the wall and throws it behind her. Behind the door is a man with a pistol, a little piece of shit that couldn't kill a squirrel much less a superhuman. Bahamut takes the weapon and crumples it in her hand. "Run and tell then I'm coming." The mask she wears distorts her voice, making it sound hellish. The man panics; and from the combination of the dragon's head mask that she wears, the steel door that now lay in the alley and the two unconscious thugs outside who could blame him.

He does what she wanted him to do. He tears through the building and out into a warehouse-like space where several armed men wait. He runs up to them, "She's here. She's here." He's hysterical. "Bahamut is here."

Before the men can raise their weapons a dark blur smashes through the wall and closes the distance. The lead man manages to fire a shot but it misses wide. She grabs him by the throat and tosses him backwards into another man. A third tries to dive behind a large crate for cover but she smashes through it and kicks him in the head.

The last drops his gun and falls to his knees. "P-please, please let me go." She rips the side of a box away and out falls what was once a young woman but is now a dehydrated mass of flesh, her dark skin tells Fang that she is Pulsian. Behind the mask she seethes. "I didn't know anything about this. Please, I have a family."

She grabs him by the face and throws him to the ground. His face bleeds from several places. She puts her foot on his face. "You're grunts. I want the boss. Where is he?" The man struggles so she kicks him in the ribs. "Who am I kidding? You don't know shit." She kicks him in the head and knocks him out.

She grabs the men she's knocked unconscious and ties them up in a corner of the warehouse with some ropes she finds lying around. She calls the police then opens every crate and releases seven more women, some of whom are close to dying. When the police show up she presents all that she found as evidence and they have more than enough to indict.

Lead Inspector Sikes shakes her hand and thanks her. He is an older man, balding and with a body that had at one point been fit but was now overweight and under toned. "Thanks again, Bahamut. We're getting closer to catching the guys behind this."

"I'm getting closer. Just stay out of my way." He balks, never before had she spoken like that to him. He doesn't know what to do. She flies away before he can say anything to her.

She lands in a dark alley many miles away from the warehouse. She strips out of her uniform and puts on her street clothes, a leather jacket and jeans. She lets her dark hair fall, hating the way it felt in the mask. Fang walks out onto the street and passes several alleys when she hears the sounds of a struggle. She stops at the entrance to an alley where a man and woman are being held at knife point and mugged. Fang watches for a full minute before she continues walking towards the garage where her car is parked. "Animals."

-HERO-

Fang got home as the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon. She was tired from the fight, tired from caring, hell she was tired of being a hero. She walked through the house until she found Claire still asleep in their bedroom. She took sat down beside her on the bed and stroked her hair. "Hey, aren't you going to be late, sweetheart."

Claire's eyes snapped open and she looked at the clock. "Oh shit, I forgot to set the alarm. She hopped out of bed and headed straight for the shower. If the circumstances were different she would have joined her, but as it was she was too tired and Claire was in too much of a hurry.

She lay down on her side of the bed and started to drift away. She felt a hand on her arm and smelled that sweet smell that Claire always had after she showered. "I guess I won't see you tonight." A gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'll be here."

"Fang." Claire's voice was chiding.

"I'll be here, Claire." Fang's voice was sure.

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Fang drifted off to sleep, into dreams where she was fighting a dark menace that she couldn't defeat. It was all around her, too numerous to count, and when she cut a head off two more grew in it's place. _I don't care enough to stop them anymore._


	2. Chapter 2

Claire woke up next to her wife who was sound asleep, she got up carefully making sure not to disturb her much needed rest. She sat down next to the bed and watched her sleep for a moment, wondering what dreams were running through her mind. Claire would never lie to Fang, when she told her that she didn't think she could quit Bahamut she had meant it. While she would be ecstatic to wake up with her wife every morning and go for a jog before heading to work, to come home to Fang cooking dinner wearing nothing but an apron and after dinner they would head up to the bedroom for some recreation before going to sleep she knew that it would slowly destroy Fang. Fang needed to be out there using her power and defending the weak. That is what kept Fang going and Claire supported her every way.

Claire ran a hand through her wife's hair before getting up and heading for the bathroom, disrobing and stepping into the shower. She let the hot water fall down her body, she always took hot showers in the morning as it helped to wake her up and left her feeling clean for the rest of the day. She stepped out of the shower with steam rising off her reddened skin and toweled off. By the time she dressed for work her skin had already returned to it's natural pale hue.

She gathered the tests she had graded over the weekend and her teaching materials and headed out to her Chrysler, starting the long drive to the campus she worked at. The University of Bodhum loomed ahead of her, a sight that she always relished as she drove by. She loved her work, it kept her busy and made her feel fulfilled, much better than her previous job. She had Fang to thank for that, Fang who had pulled her out of the gutter and raised her up, who had showed her that she could be better than what she was, who had showed her that she could reach her dreams. After six years of study at the very university she now taught at, she was given a masters degree in history and, after the retirement of her professor, she was hired to replace him and she had never been happier. After getting the job she had bought her and Fang the house in the suburbs and moved them out of the inner city and she was reminded of that feeling every time she pulled into the univerity parking lot. The feeling of success.

She parked her car near the building, a spot reserved just for her, and walked to her office waving at most of the other professors as she passed by. It had taken a long time for them to adapt to her, considering her background she couldn't say she blamed them, but after a while she had become a popular member of the faculty. She walked into her office and sat down in her comfortable chair, it was the first thing she had replaced when she was given the job, and worked on her lesson plan until the bell rang and she headed to her first class.

"Today we'll be discussing the battle of Thermopylae. Now, who can tell me which nations were involved in the battle?"

One of her students in the front row, a young man she knew to be Snow Villiers, held his hand up. He wasn't the brightest person in the room, Claire would be more apt to say he was the dimmest person in any room, but he was currently dating her sister Serah Farron so, for the sake of her sister, she tried to appear friendly to him though she often singled him out as a way of showing that she didn't play favorites. She took her job seriously and it didn't matter whether he was dating her sister, rules were rules. "The Persians on one side and the Spartans on the other."

"Partially correct. You're forgetting about the Athenian navy that held the sea while a combination of Athenians and Spartans held the land route against the thousands of Persians that descended upon them." She recounted the tale that had become popular amongst many people due to a recent film that was made about the battle. Fang had taken her to see it and while Claire thought it was dreadful Fang had been on the edge of her seat. She owned three copies of that damned movie, much to Claire's ire. Afterwards she lectured on the strategies that made the Athenians successful in their campaign against the Persians who far outnumbered them, their usage of the high sea walls which reduced the effect of the Persian numbers, the Athenian navy that held off reinforcements and attack from the sea and the effectiveness of the Spartan phalanx that held out against wave after wave of Persian infantry.

After her lecture she handed out the tests she had graded from the previous week. She smiled knowingly down at Snow as she handed him the lowest grade he had received all year. She mentioned to him that she wished to speak to him after class then continued on passing out the exams. The clock struck twelve and her morning class was over, the students all filed out leaving Snow to approach her desk. "Hey, sis, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I want to talk to you about how serious you are about my class." Snow's grades had been getting worse and worse in her class and she noticed it. He never paid attention, always on his damned phone or off in some daydream. He often slept in her class which drew her ire, she couldn't stand it when students slept in her class. "If your scores don't improve, Snow, I'm going to fail you. Serah be damned, I will fail you."

"I only took this class as an elective, I don't need it for my degree."

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way, but I would still appreciate it if you'd at least make an attempt to pay attention in my class. Oh, and stop calling me sis."

"Ouch, sorry Ms. Farron. I'll give it a try, though I wouldn't hold my breath."

_Don't worry, I'm not._ Claire didn't much care whether Snow tried of not, what she hadn't told Snow was that his grade was so low that he had already failed her class. She had thought of it as softening the blow. "Get out of here, Villiers, and don't let me catch you napping in my class again."

"Okay, sis."  
Claire fought the urge to throw something at him as he left the classroom leaving her alone for the precious few minutes of quiet she had before her next class started. She sat back in her comfortable chair and popped open a soda can she had gotten from the faculty lounge before class. She propped her feet up on her desk as her students for her second of three classes that day filed in, she ignored them and relaxed until the clock struck twelve thirty. She tossed the empty can in the trash can to the side of her desk and got back to work. She taught the remainder of her two lectures without incident, packed her bags and headed out to her car ready to be off her feet for the night.

The long drive to the house afforded her with plenty of time to think. She was so lost in thought that she almost missed the turn into the driveway. She whipped the Chrysler around and almost hit the curb, coming to a rest next to Fang's chevelle, the same car that she had driven when they first met.

She left her book-bag in the car and hit the button for the alarm as she walked to the door and into the house. Fang was sitting at the table, a book in her hand and a cup of coffee on the table. She heard Claire's footsteps and set her book down, "Good evening, sweetheart. How was your day?"

Claire didn't know how to respond. Not that she didn't know how her day had gone, she was quite sure of that. It was that in the eight years that she had been married to Fang she had never once been there when she got home. She had never been asked that question before. "It was ... typical."

"Typical? What happened?"

Claire poured a cup of coffee from the pot and sat down at the table. "I don't know, I gave my lecture and then left. What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, I guess I don't really know what to ask. We've been married for almost ten years and I still don't know what to ask you when you get home. I had wanted to cook for us tonight, you know something romantic, but I don't know how to bloody cook." Claire grabbed Fang's hand and held it. "I don't know how to do anything."

"Do you remember what I was when you met me, Fang?"

Fang smirked. "The best dancer I'd ever seen."

"I was a stripper, Fang, but you showed me another way. You saved me Fang. Then I found out about Bahamut and I was happy that you were saving others in the same way. You're not a housewife, Fang, and I understand that. In fact, I love that about you." Fang smiled at her. "Now, why don't we eat out." Fang raised an eyebrow. "At a restaurant, Fang."

"Oh."

"We can talk about the other kind later."

-HERO-

They drove in Fang's chevelle, Fang wanted to drive in Claire's Chrysler but Claire didn't feel like driving. When they pulled up to the restaurant Fang stopped the car at the curb and got out first. She was wearing a long black dress and heels, her long hair tied back in a neat ponytail. She opened the door for Claire who stepped out wearing a shorter, form-fitting red dress, her pink hair left to flow over her right shoulder. She wore makeup, unlike Fang who never liked it.

The valet was taken aback when he approached and Fang handed him the keys. "If there's one scratch on my car you're gonna answer for it, okay?" He gulped and nodded, he couldn't explain why but he knew that she meant business. He drove that car with the utmost care to the parking lot nearby, made sure it was parked well away from the others and prayed that no one laid a finger on it. Claire took Fang's arm and they walked the two blocks to the restaurant. The evening was cool and the sky was perfectly clear, the sun and stars shone brightly over the city streets as they walked. Claire put her head on Fang's shoulder and together they turned heads. "It's such a beautiful night."

"It's a beautiful night and I'm here with a beautiful woman going to eat at a fancy downtown restaurant, what more could a woman ask for?"

A heavyset Pulsian stood at the restaurant door with tattoos up and down his arms and a look on his face that said he had better places to be but chose to play doorman. "Reservations?" His deep voice and deep Pulsian accent rolled across the space between him and the two women.

"Should be under Claire Farron."

Fang's familiar accent brought a hint of a smile to his face. When he noticed their hands clasped together and the wedding rings on their fingers he smiled brighter. He thumbed through the list until he found her name. "Farron, party of two. Go on in." Fang gave him a Pulsian nod of thanks and he leaned in close. "My boyfriend works in the kitchen. I'll get him to make your order special, right?"

"Thanks, brother."

They entered the posh restaurant and Fang shivered, aside from the help she was the only Pulsian in the place. A few eyes turned with disdain in her direction and Claire tightened her grip on her hand. "I thought we were passed this, Fang. Don't let them get you down."

"I won't. Tonight's about me and you, beautiful."

Claire beamed, Fang could always say just the right things at just the right times. Claire leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. The host approached and led them to their table, Fang pulled one of the chairs out for Claire before taking her own seat across from her. The host left and their waiter approached, a short, dark-haired man with glasses and a bald spot. He set two menus on the table. "My name is Walter, I'll be your waiter. What can I get you to drink?"

Claire opened the wine list and found one she enjoyed. "A bottle of Chateau-Blanc," she looked at Fang, "if that's okay with you?"

"That's fine with me, sweetheart."

The waiter bowed his head and left. Claire opened her menu and browsed. "I had a thought."

Fang was doing the same. She was thinking about a steak, the biggest steak in the restaurant. "What's that?"

"I have a weeks vacation saved up. Why don't we go on vacation? We can go to Pulse."

"It has been a while since I've been there, about nine years ago if I remember right." The menu tilted forward as she thought about it. "Yeah, nine years. The last time I went to Pulse was to tell my mum and dad about our wedding. That was awkward."

"I thought your parents liked me?"

"Not at first," Fang smirked at her wife, "but they came to love you." Under her breath she muttered, "Only after I threatened to drop the family name." Fang returned to the menu. "I think it's a great idea. We could use some time together." She peeked over the menu and raised an eyebrow. "You know, catch up."

Claire laughed as the waiter returned with their bottle of wine and two elegant glasses. He poured them each a glass, "Are you ready to order, madams?"

"Yes," Claire set her menu on the table, "I'll have the surf and turf with extra butter."

"Excellent choice, and for you Miss?"

Fang was still looking but decided to go with her gut. "I'll have the porterhouse."

"How would you like that cooked?"

"Rare."

He wrote in his notebook, took the menus and bowed his head. "I'll put in the order, it should be done shortly."

He walked away and Fang chuckled at the sway in his walk. "He walks like a pirate." Fang did her best approximation of a pirate voice, which was actually quite close. "Yarrr, I be back with ya salad."

Fang and Claire both laughed aloud, earning a few looks from the other patrons. Claire stuck her tongue out at a particularly nasty looking older woman, Fang struck the table with her palm and nearly laughed herself hoarse. The woman haughtily looked away. Fang looked across the table and noticed that Claire was staring at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"I love you."

"You getting all emotional on me?"

"I'm just saying," Claire grabbed Fang's hand on the table, "without you I'm nobody."

"That feeling is mutual, baby." The food arrived far quicker than anyone else's, almost as if it had been made first, and the portions were much larger than normal. "Might have to send that guy a thank you gift."

On the television above the bar flashed several scenes of men working at, what was to be, one of the biggest parties to be thrown in town. The host was being interviewed, CEO of one of the biggest corporations based in Bodhum, Joe Talione. "This party is a huge thank you to all the employees of Talione International. We're renting out the top two floors of the most exclusive Bodhum hotel and we're gonna blow the roof off it."

-HERO-

On the other side of town a man is watching the same interview with a grimace walking down the street. He turns down an alley and looks both ways before knocking on a door painted all black. A slider opens and a pair of eyes peek out at him. "Password?"

"Open the door, Frank."

"That ain't the password." He opened the door anyway and the man steps inside. "So whatcha after, Vinnie?"

They walk down a poorly lit hallway and up to a counter with a single light shining on it. Vinnie takes a package from his coat and slaps it to the counter. "I need ten pounds of the good stuff."

"Ten pounds?" Frank opens the package and pulls out several rolls of money. He thumbs through it, "This' a lot a dough. Where'd you get it?"

"Got a big score last night, rich old couple. Now give me the stuff."

Frank went to the back with the money and returned with a black duffel bag. He puts it on the counter. "What do ya need so much for?"

"Plans, Frank. If this works, I'll remember my friends." Vinnie grabs the duffel and makes his way out of the dark house.

-HERO-

Fang and Claire walked down the street, after eating everything on her plate Fang insisted they walk it off. Claire was quick with the 'I told you so's and so they walked quietly. A chill wind blew and Fang clutched closer to Claire, who always loved the cold. "I'm starting to regret this walking idea. Let's head back to the car."

"No, I'm not listening to you whine the whole way home about how full you are and about how 'I shouldn't have eaten that whole steak'. We're walking until you can sit down without making that grunting sound."

Fang shot a glare at Claire, but didn't say anything as she clutched closer to her. "Can we at least get my coat from the car?"

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"Claaaire."

"No."

"Lightning."

Claire gasped and pulled away from Fang, who immediately regretted it as a cold wind blew and she shivered. "You swore you would never call me that."

"I didn't ..."

"Take me home, now."

They walked back to the car in silence. They drove home in silence. They entered the house and got ready for bed in silence. "Are you mad at me?"

"Yes."

Fang wrapped around Claire from behind and kissed her neck. Claire shivered and revealed more neck to her. "Still mad at me?"

"A little."

Fang kissed her again while letting her hands roam around Claire's body. Claire made a sound in her throat. "Still?"

Claire turned around and kissed Fang with a passion. "You should be a salesman. Now let's see what else we can do with that silver tongue."


	3. Chapter 3

Joseph Talon sat behind the large desk in his office, a pudgy man of nearly sixty with no hair on his head, he runs one of the largest crime families in Bodhum, the Talons. Three men approach the door to his office and knock. "Come in." They enter, two stocky men on the sides wearing black ties and dark sunglasses and a much shorter man in the center wearing a pinstripe suit and a pompadour. "Are we ready to go?"

The man in the center rubbed his hands together nervously, "Yeah, yeah we're looking good, boss. The party is gonna be great."

"And you have the ... refreshments? We can't have our guests leaving thirsty."

"All taken care of."

"Good. Now there's just one more thing I need you to do." The man knew even before the command was issued what it meant. "Boys." The men in suits drew pistols from their coats and, before the nervous man could react, gunned him down where he stood. "Sorry, buddy, can't have any loose ends. The rest of you, double check the guest list. Make sure everyone is gonna be here."

"Yes, boss."

The two men bowed, and drug the dead man's body out as they left. "This is gonna be a night to remember."

-Heaven-

Claire sat in a downtown Bodhum restaurant across the table from her sister, Serah and one of the men in her class who happened to be her boyfriend. Fang was at home, busily packing for their coming trip so she had invited Serah and her boyfriend to catch up. Serah looked very much like her older sister, only shorter and slimmer. Snow Villiers was a large man, at 6' 5" he towered over both of the women at the table, he wore his blonde hair long and always looked like he had nothing at all to say. "Snow told me you called him out in class. You should be nicer to him, Claire."

"He should pay better attention in my class. I can't be playing favorites, Serah."

"That doesn't mean you have to pick on him."

"I'm sitting right here." Snow could never get a word in edgewise. When Serah and her sister started, only they could stop it. "There's a rumor that you're not going to be in class this week. What are you gonna do, sis?"

Claire glared at him for calling her that, but left it at that. "Fang and I are going to Pulse for a week. It's been a while since she's been and I thought she might want to see her family."

"But doesn't her family hate you?" Serah remembered very well the trials that Fang's father had put Claire through, particularly one involving red hot coals. "I distinctly remember them hating you."

"They didn't hate me, Serah...they just thought I wasn't good enough for their daughter. After the wedding they accepted me." She added under her breath, "Somewhat." She continued, "She needs a vacation more than I do. She's been getting frustrated at work lately and I think this trip could help her out." She had never told her sister about Fang's secret identity, for all her heart Serah had a big mouth.

"Still, you should be careful, sis." Snow noticed the look that Claire usually shot him was more subdued, like she was tired of doing it. "Pulse isn't like Cocoon, it's dangerous over there. You could get kidnapped and sold into slavery, and you're hot so you would go for a lot..." He drifted off at the withering look from the sisters. He lowered his head and dejectedly said, "I'm done."

"I can handle myself, Villiers. Plus I have Fang with me, and you don't know how strong she is." Claire thought back to the last time someone had threatened her, Fang had hung him upside down from the top of a skyscraper. "We'll be just fine. How is everything with you, Serah?"

"I'm a little stressed right now." Serah put her head in her hands. "Midterms are coming up and there's a big archery contest coming up so I'm putting in a lot of hours. Then I get home and have to hear from my boyfriend how my sister is being mean to him in class. I'm exhausted."

"If you want help with your midterms all you have to do is ask. It's not like I'm a professor or anything. As for the boyfriend, maybe next time date someone smarter." Snow exhaled and bowed his head, no good would come from trying to take Claire Farron head on.

The food arrived and they ate. While taking a bite of her sandwich a conversation caught her keen ears. "Have you heard the latest about Bahamut?"

Her ears perked up at the mention of her wife's alter ego. She listened closely while looking nonchalant. "No, I missed the news last night."

"Apparently she took out another den of slavers. She's ruthless, like she has a vendetta against them." The man was more right than he knew. Claire remembered hearing the story about Fang and her sister Vanille, about the time she spent in chains. Fang still bore scars from that time in her life. "I've also heard that they're getting closer to identifying her."

Claire had heard that before as well. Several years ago word had spread that someone had come forward who could identify the masked hero. The man's name was Vincent Tratero, a local scumbag who had been attacked by Bahamut before. His claim turned out to be a hoax, and Fang had found him again and beaten him senseless. After that, most information about Bahamut was treated with suspicion if not cast out immediately, due also to her popularity amongst the police. Her openness in working with them helped them greatly.

Serah noticed Claire's eavesdropping. "They're talking about Bahamut, right? I like her, she takes care of the people that are out of the law's reach. I feel safer knowing she's around. What about you, Claire? Do you think Bahamut is a hero?"

I'm in love with Bahamut is what she thought but Serah didn't know that. "She does good, I don't think anyone can argue that. I don't understand why everyone wants to know who she is, would it change anything?"

"If she had a name and a face she would seem more human," Snow had a thoughtful look on his face that Claire thought was out of place, "I think a lot of people want to be able to meet the person who keeps them safe. With a cop they have families and lives that we can see, we can meet them on the street and shake their hand, but she's different."

She has a family, too. Her sister, her parents, her wife and she's trying to protect us. Her phone rang and she took her phone from her pocket, it was Fang. She answered it, "Hi, sweetheart."

"Are you still eating with your sister?"

"Yes, why?" She checked the time, two o'clock. "Oh, wow I didn't realize what time it was."

A chuckle from the other side of the phone. "It's alright, babe, I'll meet you there in five."

"How will that work? Are we going to drive two cars to the airport and..." Her mind finally caught up to what Fang was saying. "Be discreet, okay. I'll see you in a minute. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Claire put the phone away and Serah asked, "Do you need to go?"

"No, Fang is going to meet me here. She said she was just down the street so it shouldn't be too long."

"Oh, okay." Serah kept her suspicions to herself. She had never brought it up to her sister, but she had always suspected that Fang was more than she seemed. She knew that Fang was strong, stronger even than Snow, but she also seemed to appear whenever she wanted. Coupled with the fact that on the occasions when Serah was able to have dinner with her sister Fang always had a convenient excuse for not being there and that she still didn't know what Fang did for a living, Serah had deduced that something was going on with her. At first Serah had thought she was cheating on her sister, but now she thought it was something else and that Claire knew.

She ate in silence, however, and a few minutes later Fang walked into the restaurant and headed for their table. An older Pulsian who had been dining marked herself with a strange symbol using her hands and excused herself from the room. Serah's suspicions grew, Claire had seen it before and knew the cause. Ragnarok.

Fang kissed her wife on the cheek before sitting down next to her. "I figure we can head to the airport from here and make better time, instead of you having to go all the way back to the house and pick me up."

"That was good thinking."

Snow, as a good natured simpleton, decided to continue his conversation. "Like I was saying, why wear the mask if she's got nothing to hide? If Bahamut was truly a good person she should be able to do what she does without the mask."

Fang turned her gaze on him and, for a second, Claire got the image of her beating him senseless. She smiled. "The mask isn't for her," Fang corrected, "it's to protect those she cares about."

"Then why don't the cops wear masks? They fight crime but they do it without all the secrecy."

"And look what that's got them. They run in fear when some mafioso jack off comes riding up in a stolen car with three others all armed to the bloody teeth. Bahamut doesn't, that's why she needs the mask." Fang was growing irritated, Serah noticed. "If they can't get to her, they'll take anyone around her, family and friends. She wears the mask to protect them."

Claire calmed her wife by taking her hand and rubbing the back of it, a small gesture that she often used to calm the emotional Pulsian woman. "Isn't it time for us to go, babe. We don't want to miss our flight."

Claire paid for the meal, as much as Serah complained, and stood to leave. She stretched and a few tendons in her neck popped, she had been sitting for far longer than she realized. Serah got up to give her sister and Fang a hug, Snow shook their hands. "Have a safe trip, you two. I'll see you when you get back, sis."

"Good luck with your midterms, Serah. Give me a call if you need any help, okay?"

They left the restaurant and started their long drive to the airport.

-Heaven-

Vinnie opened the door to the two story house that he shared with his wife Ivy, a moderately attractive, middle aged woman who came from an illustrious family which caused many people to accuse him of marrying her for money. An accusation he never minded, mostly because it was true. While he didn't care for her he had assumed that his marriage to the woman would come with status. It didn't.

He carefully sat the heavy satchel he carried next to the sofa and went straight for the refrigerator, searching it top and bottom for any liquor that might be left. He found a small amount of vodka in a bottle and downed it in one swig. He spun around when he heard the creaking of the stairs and made a show of being happy to see Ivy, who rolled her eyes at him. "Don't give me that crap, Vinny, you were supposed'ta take me out tonight."

"Sorry, baby, I had something to take care of." Her folded arms and twisted expression told him he would sleep alone tonight. It came as a relief to him. "I've got this big job comin' up and I needed to stock up on some supplies. You know how Frank is, only works one day a week."

"What'd ya need?" She opened the bag and was surprised by the amount if plastic explosives in it. She knew that Vinny was a small time thug, this was way out of his usual methods. "What is all this for?"

"Nothin' you need to worry about, baby."

She shrugged, happy not to know the details of Vinny's work. "Are you going to daddy's party? He invited everyone from the families, it's gonna be huge."

"Nah, that ain't my scene."

He brushed passed his wife and made his way towards the bedroom where he started to split their bed apart. He felt hands on his shoulders that slid down to his waist. He bristled. "I thought we were gonna do somethin' special tonight?"

He sighed, this was the worst part of the job to him, but if it was one thing he was good at it was work.

-Heaven-

Fang sat next to a sleeping Claire on the long flight to Pulse, her mind running with her conversation with Snow earlier. Claire stirred and lay her head on Fang's shoulder. "Can't sleep?"

"I just keep thinking about what he said. He's right, you know."

"Forget that, Fang."

"No, I can't forget it. I've been hiding my whole life; my dad always telling me to be normal, the time in the camps when I saved Vanille and now I hide behind the mask. What good am I really doing?"

"More than Snow, that's for damn sure." Fang's serious face broke and a smile pierced the surface. "Stop worrying and get some sleep. I'm not going to put up with you being grouchy when we get there."

Fang closed her eyes and found that sleep was closer than she had thought.


End file.
